Supporting CSARN

For 18 months, he hid in terror; frozen, starving. But determined not to let them find him. For they had already killed members of his family in the camps.

He had helped the Resistance destabilize the occupying regime. But, mainly, they were after him because he was a Jew.

Despite many close calls, including one when a troop of German soldiers were billeted just steps from where he was hiding, Leo Spellman was never caught. Unlike many he knew and loved, he survived the Second World War and the Nazi occupation of Poland.

In 1947, in a displaced persons camp, he turned for solace to the thing that had sustained and nourished him his entire life: music. He wrote a symphonic work, Rhapsody 1939-1945. The piece was performed by holocaust survivors, and then Leo put his Rhapsody in a trunk where it lay forgotten for half a century.

It was revived and performed in the Unitied States in 2000, but not in Canada, where Leo had relocated after the war, for another dozen years. Finally, his adopted home heard his Rhapsody in a performance at the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto in 2012, a few months before Leo's death at the age of 99.

Leo Spellman's story is now the subject of a documentary film. The work-in-progress is called Rhapsody: The Liberation of Leo Spellman. It is truly a family affair. The Executive Producer is Paul Hoffert, who told the story during his keynote address at Maintaining Creativity 1 in 2016. Paul also conducted the Canadian premier performance of Rhapsody in 2012. The film is produced by Paul's wife, Brenda, and their son, David, who also directs.

Leo Spellman also left the world another legacy: his diaries. During the months that he spent in hiding, he kept extensive diaries that were unknown even to his children until after he died. The Washington Holocaust Museum has declared them to be the most important documents of their kind from the war years. They provide the story behind the creation of his symphonic work in the documentary, set to animations by Oscar-winner Chris Landreth.

Brenda Hoffert told CSARN that Rhapsody: The Liberation of Leo Spellman will be ready for release within the next few months. There is already quite a buzz among distributors. We will keep you posted.

In the meantime, you can look at a teaser of the film by clicking here.

information will help The AFC plan its future and ensure that it’s a strong lifeline, providing emergency financial aid for years to come. This survey is for anyone who works as a union or guild member in TV, film, and theatre, but The AFC remains committed to serving all professionals in Canadian TV, film, music, theatre and dance. The scope of this research project is limited, but The AFC hopes that the findings will benefit all members of the entertainment community. Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey. Share it with your colleagues and friends, and encourage everyone to fill it out. The survey closes August 11. The more The AFC learns about the workforce today, the more it can do to support the community in the future!

Participants will listen to music for 60 minutes per day for four weeks at home. The study will require participants to complete two, three-hour sessions at St. Michael’s, where they will undergo cognitive testing and an MRI scan to obtain an image of their brains. A blood sample will be collected during one of these hospital visits.

Requirements to participate: 1. You must have memory impairments 2. You must be able to undergo MRI scans (do not have any metal implants, pacemakers, etc.) 3. You do not have a history of neurological impairment (e.g. stroke, traumatic brain injury, etc.) or substance abuse.

The study will be conducted at St. Michael’s Hospital. Participants will be compensated for your participation in the study.

Researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto are looking for both professional musicians and non-musicians who have memory

Help St. Mike's Study How Music Affects Memory

Our friends at The AFC are conducting a national survey. Financial Health in Canada’s TV, Film and Theatre Industries will help The AFC understand more about entertainment industry workers and household finances. The

New National Survey on Financial Health of Artists

Rhapsody: An Update from Maintaining Creativity 1

Being an artist can be a lonely existence. We're at the computer, in a studio, learning lines or music, choreographing a piece; waiting for the phone to ring.

In fact, our research has shown that 28% of senior artists are at risk of social isolation.

The solution is to put down the pen or the piccolo, step away from the brush or the barre, take a break and re-connect with your Community.

CSARN's latest program will help you do that. Thanks to a grant from the federal government, CSARN is introducing the CSARN Salon Series as a pilot project in the Toronto area. It will be a chance for members of our Community to meet regularly with others who live in their neighbourhoods.

We are anticipating Salon locations in various area throughout the greater Toronto region. The meetings will take place every few weeks.

Each Salon group will determine its own agenda. Do you want to have a speaker? A workshop? Or just chat? It will be entirely up to you.

Refreshments will be served.

Please let us know if you’re interested by clicking here and using the form to let us know where you would like to meet.

Here are just some of the comments from those who attended:

A wonderful day spent with peers.

The whole experience has been fun and supportive. I have come away both times inspired and with new information... thank you CSARN!

I found the day to be both energizing & extremely informative.

Apart from the great content, the conference provided a sense of being part of a community

If you missed our conference, you can watch a highlight video that was produced by John Hudecki. Click here to watch it.

Presented by CSARN and the Artists' Health Alliance, and sponsored by Bayshore HealthCare and Merck Canada, Maintaining Creativity 2: REinvention brought together 150 artists and presenters at the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library on April 26th.

If author Gordon MacKenzie noticed a springtime spike in sales of Orbiting the Giant Hairball, his 1998 how-to book on remaining creative in the corporate world, he has Laurie Brown to thank.

The CBC host was the keynote speaker at Maintaining Creativity 2: REinvention, on April 26th. Laurie spoke about how she has maintained her creativity in the corporate world of Canada's national broadcaster, and spoke at length about Gordon MacKenzie's tantalizingly-titled tome.

Many people who attended Maintaining Creativity 2: Reinvention, said they planned to purchase a copy immediately.

Maintaining Creativity 2 Draws Raves

CSARN’s Launches Salon Series

"Gordon is one of the anchors."

That's how fellow actor R.H. Thomson described Gordon Pinsent in a recent documentary, The River of My Dreams: A Portrait of Gordon Pinsent. If culture is the sea, Thomson says Canada often gets battered by the gale-force winds blowing out of the US and Britain. But Gordon Pinsent, Thomson says, "holds the ship of culture."

From his theatrical beginnings at the Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Stratford Festival; to his first TV series,Quentin Durgens, MP; to his screenwriting debut in The Rowdyman [in which he also starred]; to his recurring role

as the dead Mountie father of Paul Gross in Due South; to Klondike Fever, John and the Missus, and his brilliant performance in Sarah Polley's Away from Her, Gordon Pinsent has personified the best in Canadian performing arts.

We at CSARN are honoured to announce that Gordon Pinsent has joined our Board of Directors.

Who knows better the joys and challenges of maintaining your creativity as you age; and the wealth of talent and artistry Canada's artists represent? In his own words, "In the advanced civilized world, proper, evaluation on aging is that, not only are we the final frontier, but it's often where tomorrow's gold is found. Beware the greys!"

Gordon Pinsent joins Artistic Advisor Martha Henry in helping to guide CSARN to serve our community and advance the cause of senior artists who want to continue leading creative and healthy lives.